


Paper Targets

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Madam Secretary
Genre: Gen, Prompt Fill, Shooting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27162860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: Elizabeth gets ambushed and has to defend herself.
Relationships: Elizabeth McCord/Henry McCord
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Paper Targets

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fill- Elizabeth has to shoot or stab someone.

“Ma’am! Get down!”

She felt Matt’s large hands on her a second before she was pitched forward, shoved to the ground as bullets flew overhead. Gasping, she tried to regain the breath that was knocked out of her lungs, squeezing her eyes shut as more shouting added to the cacophony around her.

Twisting, she opened her eyes again, shaken when everything she could see was hazed in red. It took far too long for her liking to realize the red was blood smeared on the lenses of her glasses. “Matt.” It came out as a whisper, much too soft to be heard and it made her breathe in plaster dust, causing her to cough. “Matt.” She said it again anyway. She couldn’t see her agent and that worried her.

Gunfire still riddled the air, the rapid _pop pop pop_ forcing her blood pressure to rise. “Dammit, Matt!” She pushed to her knees and tried to crawl forward only to realized she was pinned. Curling on her side, she discovered why. “Matt!”

Tossing her now useless glasses aside, she looked around the room. She couldn’t see any of her security on the melee. No one seemed to be taking any notice of her, Matt had shoved her behind a heavy desk, temporarily providing her enough cover to work on shifting his unconscious body off her legs. “Stay there.” She frowned, searching the area for his missing sidearm.

Something wet dripped along her eye and she wiped it with the back of her hand, pulling away to find bright blood. She was bleeding. There wasn’t time to worry about it now, a head wound wouldn’t matter much if she ended up dead.

Starting where Matt had fallen, she tracked her eyes in the natural direction away from his body, spotting the gun under a chair and scrambling for it. Retaking the spot Matt had clearly been trying to get her to, she sheltered in place and listened to the shouting and gunfire as it drew nearer.

She was missing the rest of her detail, her staff, the ambassador she was supposed to be meeting. She wasn’t sure who that she could hear was friend or foe.

Slowly, the noise began to fade further through the building, leaving her to breathe easier. Panting, she became aware that there was an out of place crunching sound in the room. Evenly spaced. Cautious even.

Footsteps.

Footsteps looking for someone.

Looking for her.

“Madam Secretary… It looks like your time has come.” She couldn’t place the voice, the accent though told her they were local. “The deal you came to broker was going to destroy our people. You are nothing more than a devil here to ruin us, we had to stop you and avenge our brothers who have died because of you.” He raised his gun. “How glorious it will be to tell my remaining brothers that I was the one to wipe out the poor little woman Secretary that your country sent.”

She heard the gun cock and her breath stopped. He was savoring the moment, waiting to see fear and realization dawn in her eyes, but there was one crucial fact the man didn’t know. She raised Matt’s gun and held it steady. She’d only ever shot at paper targets, but thirty years with Henry and twelve in the CIA had lent itself to a lot of paper targets. “Not today.”

=MS=

That it was so loud was the first thought she could remember thinking. The second was that her head was killing her.

“She’s coming around!” Someone shouted too close to her ear and she tried to pull away.

“Matt-”

“Got knocked out, but is fine, Ma’am. We’re getting you out and looked at right now.”

“The Ambassador-”

“Was only just arriving at the back, was evacuated in time.” Another voiced answered that one.

“My head is killing me.”

There wasn’t a response to that one, just more scrambled talking about an ambulance and evacuation plans and security.

Slowly, she cracked on eye open, the other wouldn’t budge. Her formerly missing detail were crowded around her, providing a physical barrier between her and the outside world. “Was anyone hurt?” She could make out the confusion on the agents’ faces. “Our people, was anyone hurt?”

“You and Matt got the worst of it, Ma’am. We pushed back most of the insurgence, that’s why we left just he with you. We apologize, we were unaware that he’d been rendered unconscious until he didn’t respond to our ping and by then we couldn’t turn back.”

“It’s fine. I was fine.” She tried to push upright, but hands held her in place on the floor.

“You need to stay still until medics get here, Ma’am.”

She closed her eyes to gather herself.

=MS=

Opening her good eye, she stared up at the ceiling, something was off about it and the voices around her didn’t make sense. “What happened?”

A face swam above her and it took too long for her to place it as belonging to Carl. “Ma’am?”

“Where’s Matt?”

Carl looked away at something, or someone, out of view. “Matt took a blow from debris and got knocked out, Ma’am.”

“And the others? The ambassador and my staff? Everyone is okay?”

Carl frowned and then another face swam over her. “Ma’am? The ambassador is fine. He was evacuated in time and your staff were able to shelter in place.”

“Did you get them all?”

“We think so, Ma’am.”

Her eyes fell shut again.

=MS=

The ache in her head was like being squeezed by a vice. She just wanted out of the room and to find her people and see they were okay. She tried to push herself up.

“Ma’am!” Multiple voices cried out. “You have to stay still!”

“I need to be sure everyone is okay.”

“Everyone else is fine, Ma’am.” She finally worked out the agent floating over her was Gerry. “Medics are almost here.”

“My head is…”

“You hit it on the desk we think when you fell. Cracked it pretty good. Just close your eyes and relax.”

She obeyed, desperately seeking a way to make the pain ease.

=MS=

With a gasp, her eyes opened. “Matt! Something happened to Matt!”

Everyone around her seemed to be ignoring her.

“Is anyone hurt?”

She could only catch pieces of comments whirling over where she was being held in place.

“…Blacking out…”

“…Confused…Repeating the same questions…”

“…Get them in here…”

“…We need to keep her calm…”

She didn’t understand. None of it made any sense. Why weren’t they telling her what had happened?

=MS=

With effort, Elizabeth hauled one eye open, the other lid wouldn’t budge. Over her hovered worried brown eyes and she could feel a hand in her hair.

“There you are.” The worried eyes changed as a hopeful smile appeared as well. “You need to stay lying down, the medics will be in here any moment. I know your head hurts, I’m guessing you have a pretty good concussion, but I need you to keep your eyes on me. Okay?”

“Okay.” Slowly, she raised her hand, for what, she wasn’t sure, but Nadine took it and gave it a squeeze.

“Everyone is okay.” Nadine’s eyes darted to something out of view. “Your agents said they found Matt’s gun in your hand. Are you the one who shot Franco Demir?”

“I can’t remember.”

“That’s okay.” Her attention pulled way again. When it returned, it was apprehensive. “We could hear the shooting, but Jay made sure we were well barricaded in.”

“Good. What happened to Matt?”

“From what I’ve been able to understand, he tried to shove you to safety. Judging by where the both of you were found and the blood on the desk edge that matches the wound on your head, you hit it on the way down. It’s pretty impressive, so I have no idea how you kept your wits about you to shoot a man.”

“And then?”

“In the gunfire, something was knocked loose and a light fixture fell, knocking Matt unconscious. Demir must’ve assumed he was dead and came after you?”

“I don’t remember.”

“I just want to sleep.” Her eye began to close.

“Elizabeth, stay with me please.” She gave her a nudge. “Just until the medics get in. They’re saying they’re outside now.”

“Where is everyone?”

“I sent the rest of the staff back to the hotel.”

“Good.”

“Here we go, medics are here now.”

Suddenly Elizabeth found herself on the floor surrounded by strangers. It was disorienting with the pain she was in. “Don’t leave me alone.”

Nadine’s voice was a bit distant from where the medics were now strapping her up and to a board, but she heard it. “I’ll ride with your detail to the hospital, Ma’am.”

Accepting her answer, Elizabeth let her eyes close again.

=MS=

Elizabeth sat up with a gasp. Before she could process that it’d only been a dream, Henry’s hands were on her. “It’s okay.” He soothed, his voice thick with sleep. “The nightmare again?”

“Yeah.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“I still don’t remember shooting him.”

“That’s okay.” He pulled her close, rearranging them both until they were nestled together. “It’s your brain protecting you.”

“I wish it wouldn’t.”

He huffed. “So, was that a yes or no on talking about it?”

“I don’t know what else to say that I haven’t already said.”

“How about how did you feel?”

“Worried. Scared. Confused, later. Poor Nadine…she must’ve answered the same questions a dozen times in the hospital.”

“She’s glad she could help comfort you.”

She knew he’d spoken to Nadine a few times since they’d gotten home. “She was a help.”

“I’m glad I taught you to shoot.”

“Me too.”

“I’m sorry you had to use it.”

“Me too.”

“I’m here to listen whenever you’re ready.”

“Thank you.”


End file.
